Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Private-sector union workers begin to notice that their job prospects are at risk from public-employee union contracts.

Suddenly, it's a different world. In this recession, for example, construction workers are suffering from unemployment levels roughly double the national rate, according to a recent analysis of federal jobs data by the Associated General Contractors of America. They are relearning, the hard way, that without a growing economy, all the labor-friendly laws and regulations in the world won't keep them working.

What's more, "blue-collar union workers are beginning to appreciate that the generous pensions and health benefits going to their counterparts in state and local government are coming out of their pockets," says Steven Malanga, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. "Not only that, they are beginning to understand the dysfunctional relationship between collective bargaining for government employees and their own job prospects."

By contrast, government unions use their political clout to elect those who set their pay: the politicians. In exchange, these unions are rewarded with contracts whose pension and health-care provisions now threaten many municipalities and states with bankruptcy. In response to the crisis, government unions demand more and higher taxes. Which of course makes people who have money less inclined to look to those states to make the investments that create jobs for, say, iron workers, electricians and construction workers.